I have always thought that astronomy and everything to do with Earth and outer space were so freaking cool (and terrifying), but it wasn’t until this year (taking both ASTR 1010 and 2110) that I got to really dive into the area of study.
It’s a lot harder for me than some to draw connections between astronomy and my choice of major (I’m studying English literature), but I have been absolutely delighted by the amount of connections I’ve been able to make with various fantasy and Sci-fi fandoms I’m a part of (Godzilla, Star Wars, various video games and books, etc). I am a HUGE fan of fantasy and sci-fi worlds and stories and few things bring me more joy than nerding out about them. Being able to see real-world and scientific elements in some of my favorite fictional worlds has been a very fun aspect of studying astronomy.
I’ve gotten to compare Godzilla and other Kaiju to extremophiles, gain greater understanding of light-speed travel capabilities (we are no where near hyperspace travel, that’s for sure), and got to calculate the damage of an asteroid hitting my home town. That last one, while unbelievably cool, brought back some unpleasant memories of my viewing of the 2020 film Greenland (it is very good, you should watch it, but it was slightly traumatizing for me)
I have enjoyed this class so much and know that my astronomy journey will not end here- maybe my academic astronomy journey, but not my interest in it lol!
The common question when thinking about life in space is always “Is there even life in space”? But few people think about what would actually happen next if we were to find life out there beyond the stars. If we ever do receive a message from extraterrestrial beings, many people have this vision of it being a greeting message. The aliens will have decoded our friendly message that we sent to them and they’ll send a nice response in return, right? As time has progressed, some astrobiologists have started to believed that this is the optimal outcome. First we have to be able to decode the message. Let’s imagine that we don’t decode the message though. Could it be for our own good? The aliens might not send back a message as pleasant as ours. It may contain something devastating that could alter the future of Earth.
The bigger question that people are starting to ask now is “What will the alien’s message say, and will it be friendly”? Some people believe that the message will be a call to action to help humans. Aliens most likely have far more advanced technology than us humans, especially if they can figure out how to send a message from a different star system. They may instantly recognize the information in the messages that we send. It is possible that they will send a message telling us that our technology is lagging behind theirs and offer to lend a hand. There are others that believe if we receive a message like this, it could be a trap. The alien’s could act benign, but end up secretly waging war and plan to destroy the human race. Think of it as it as here on Earth. Another place has other living beings and resources on it that a certain group may want to control. Or, you find a group of beings that you know little to nothing about in a place where you thought you were alone. That could spell bad news for us.
So before you get too excited about finding extraterrestrial life, think about the possible outcomes. What would the aliens do? What would Earth do in response? What would you do? If you’d like to learn more about the possibilities of finding extraterrestrial life, you can visit this site.
When acknowledging the vastness of our universe, it is inevitable think that alien life must be somewhere. The Fermi paradox has addressed just this; however, in todays blog I would like to consider the scenario of the paradox being solver. In other words, what could go wrong if we finally found intelligent life outside of Earth.
Video Discussing the Dark Forest Solution to Fermi paradox by In a Nutshell
In a Nutshell outlines the Dark Forest solution to the Fermi paradox. At the forefront, the human race has so far one the competition in establishing dominance on Earth. According to Pierce (2015), a specific number has not been identified as far as global daily extinction rates go, but the general consensus is our dominance over the environment actively results in the death of species unable to compete. Thus, the Dark Forest solution contemplates that if we discovered intelligent life we could enter ourselves in the competition of our lives. As we communicated across such large distances, we may not be aware of the power or intentions of those we found.
This particular solution begs the question: Would discovering other intelligent life be worth our safety?
You might be familiar with the Orion Spacecraft, which is the vehicle being used in NASA’s Artemis series of lunar missions. However, have you ever heard of Project Orion?
Most conventional spacecraft are propelled using chemical reactions which create high velocity exhaust that is focused through a rocket nozzle. Newton’s Third Law dictates that the force of the exhaust leaving the nozzle must be met with an equal and opposite force resulting in the spacecraft accelerating. The main limitation of this design is the fuel density of rocket fuel. In order to get further into space, you must bring more fuel. Bringing more fuel into space requires even more fuel. The diminishing returns make it difficult to bring a large mass into space.
In the 1950’s, NASA and DARPA theorized a new propulsion system for large rockets: nuclear explosives. Rather than chemical reactions propelling the rocket fuel, a magazine of nuclear bombs detonate one after another. The resulting energy propels gas out of the rocket, achieving the same end result as the conventional rocket. However, the energy density of nuclear bombs is much greater than rocket fuels like kerosene. A 1 megaton bomb can weigh as little as 680 pounds. Using as few as 300,000 bombs at 1 megaton each, a spacecraft could theoretically achieve 3 percent of the speed of light. Such a spacecraft would be able to reach Alpha Centauri in 133 years.
Project Orion was eventually abandoned due to concerns involving nuclear fallout in space. More realistic nuclear propulsion devices have since been theorized and prototyped. Rather than using nuclear explosions, these much more boring rockets just use nuclear reactions to heat hydrogen that acts as a propellant.
I have been thinking about whether there are civilizations other than Earth civilization in the galaxy. All the while, I saw a lot of articles about alien civilizations, but I never fully believed them. Although the Milky Way is very large, we have never found traces of alien civilization in the current exploration of human beings. But through the Drake equation, I almost completely believe in the existence of extraterrestrial civilizations. The Drake equation calculates the number of extraterrestrial civilizations from a full range of perspectives. Even though we don’t know the exact values of the variables in the Drake equation, but through estimation, I found that we do have a probability of discovering alien civilizations. I believe that in the future we will have more precise answers.
(Diagram of the various conditions in which different types of extremophiles live)
Extremophiles are organisms that live in, you guessed it, “extreme” environments, like volcanoes, the bottom of the ocean, acidic areas, etc. When we talked about extremophiles in class, we mostly looked at microbes and bacteria- the little guys. But I want to talk about one particular enormous extremophile: GODZILLA!
For those of you who don’t know, Godzilla is a massive monster lizard that breathes blue radioactive fire, originating from a franchise by the Japanese Toho Company Ltd. first introduced in the 1950s. The image above is from a scene in Godzilla II: King of the Monsters (2019) in which scientists venture deep under Earth’s surface to find Godzilla in a sleep-like state, absorbing radiation. At this depth, radiation, heat, and pressure levels are incredibly high, and it is where Godzilla (and other Kaiju like him) evolve and thrive the most.
Astrobiology is the study of life that occurs somewhere other than Earth, as we’ve learned in class, and this blog post emphasizes its developments and possible future directions. There have been substantial scientific, technological, and programmatic advances achieved in the hunt for extraterrestrial life since the 2015 publication of NASA’s Astrobiology Strategy. Understanding the beginnings and evolution of life requires interdisciplinary collaboration and a systems-level approach, which are required by astrobiology.
First, it’s crucial to comprehend the concept of dynamic habitability, which stresses how habitability is a continuum that changes across time and space as a result of planetary and environmental evolution. Research into Earth’s past as well as the coevolution of life and its environment is necessary in order to comprehend Earth’s habitability and find potential biosignatures. It is suggested that NASA and other organizations promote multidisciplinary research on dynamic habitability and coevolution. The understanding of extreme life on Earth and how it interacts with the environment has made some significant strides. It is important to comprehend how life can adapt to harsh settings and if subterranean habitats are habitable since this knowledge has consequences for the hunt for life outside in our solar system, notably on Mars and ocean worlds. As a result, NASA is concentrating on investigating and learning more about subterranean habitability.
Last but not least, it’s critical to understand the environments where potentially habitable exoplanets emerged and developed (particularly how stellar and planetary dynamics coevolved). In order to comprehend planetary habitability, comparative planetology between the solar system and exoplanetary systems is seen to be a highly effective strategy. Astrobiology research will increasingly use techniques including theoretical modeling, statistical analysis, and artificial intelligence. Overall, there has been rapid progress and exciting prospects in the field of astrobiology, emphasizing the need for interdisciplinary collaboration, systems-level thinking, and the exploration of diverse environments within and beyond our solar system.
When learning astronomy, one often wonders if humanity is alone in the galaxy. Physicist Enrico Fermi pondered this question, and ultimately came to a rather profound conclusion. Statistically our galaxy should be home to at least a handful of advanced societies more than capable of interstellar travel, so why have we not encountered any? Fermi assessed that, since the galaxy is billions of years old, sophisticated civilizations have had ample time to not only greatly surpass our technological standing, but also to potentially explore and populate the galaxy. Although it would take millions upon millions of years to colonize a decent amount of solar systems in the galaxy, this period of time is nothing when compared to the colossal age of the galaxy. Fermi, stumped at this revelation, wondered where such intelligent civilizations were and why we have not met any.
Many answers have been proposed to the Fermi Paradox. Perhaps, even with advanced space travel capabilities, intelligent societies may have no interest in prolonged exploration since space travel takes so long and/or is too costly. In addition, space colonization would surely be a draining task both physically and mentally. Maybe sophisticated life, understandably, doesn’t have the stamina to colonize the galaxy, or even parts of it. But the most mind-boggling thought is that maybe intelligent life is purposefully avoiding us. What if our solar system is a “zoo” from which other, more advanced societies can observe us for data. Regardless, the Fermi Paradox is both a fascinating and relevant topic relevant to our understanding of out galaxy.
For more information, see this Youtube Video on why the Fermi Paradox is important.
Asteroid mining can be crucial in helping us to acquire rare materials in our solar system. The asteroid belt has 8% metal-rich asteroids and 75% volatile-rich carbonaceous asteroids. Currently the technique is mainly just theoretical as we don’t have the infrastructure yet to properly bring these asteroids into earth’s orbit. A solution for this is to start building bases in lunar or earth’s orbit that have ease of access to the asteroid belt so that we can begin bringing them into our orbit. It is predicted that it would cost 2.6$ billion dollars to bring an asteroid back to Earth and that an asteroid that is very platinum rich could contain upwards of 25 billion dollars’ worth of platinum. Possibly when technology has advanced to the point where robots could conduct these missions to mine asteroids autonomously so that there is no human risk this could be a very realistic mining method. Currently though it is completely unfeasible as the risks and costs are too high if failure does occur, and scientists suggest that we work on practical technology.
Water bears, tiny invertebrates that live in coastal waters and freshwater habitats. Source: Science Photo Library
As we talked about in class a few weeks ago, Extremophiles are living things that flourish under challenging conditions.They are amazing because they can endure situations that would be fatal to the majority of other life forms. They originate from Archaea, Eubacteria, and Eukarya, the three branches of the three-domain categorization scheme. Extremophiles have caused scientists to reevaluate the beginnings of life on Earth since they have been discovered in conditions that were formerly thought to be hostile. Endoliths are a type of extremophile that lives deep below and may consume inorganic rock materials or absorb nutrients from rock veins. According to the specific extreme settings they live in, such as acidophiles (acidic environments), alkaliphiles (alkaline environments), and thermophiles (high temperatures), extremeophiles have also been characterized.
Extremophiles
Extremophiles have sparked debate on the viability of extraterrestrial life. Scientists seek to learn more about the conditions that may support life in alien locations by researching extremophiles. They may live in severe conditions, including those with high pressure, radiation, acidity, temperature swings, salinity, a lack of water and oxygen, and even contaminants and poisons left over from human activity. It may be possible to learn something about the potential habitability of other planets and moons by studying how extremophiles survive and thrive in these harsh environments.
Categorization
The categorization of extremophiles is explained using a variety of systems, including the three-domain and five-kingdom systems. The Carl Woese three-domain approach classifies organisms according to their genetic makeup. Woese classified archaea as a separate realm made up of ancient species that frequently display extremophile traits. The other domains are eukarya (organisms with a nucleus) and eubacteria (real bacteria). These categorization schemes aid in the better understanding of the distinctive traits that distinguish extremophiles from other species.
Conditions
There are various harsh conditions in which extremophiles flourish. Some examples include Lake Untersee in Antarctica, which has a pH that is strongly alkaline and is rich in methane, simulating circumstances that may occur on other planetary bodies. The human stomach and other extremely acidic ecosystems are home to acidophiles, which enjoy acidic surroundings. Extremophiles that require an alkaline pH to exist, like Spirochaeta americana, can be found in alkaline habitats, such California’s Mono Lake. Extremophiles can also be found in geysers, hydrothermal vents, and regions that are polluted with acids and heavy metals.
Conclusion
In conclusion, extremophiles are creatures that live in harsh settings and have pushed the boundaries of what we think is possible for life. They have repercussions for the beginnings of life on Earth and the potential for life elsewhere in the universe. Extremophiles originate from a variety of fields and have amazing adaptations to thrive in harsh environments. Scientists seek to learn more about the possible habitability of different settings and broaden their understanding of the potential for life in the cosmos by researching extremophiles.
